Love ludicrously lost: literacy lacking louts liberally lambasted... lol

[schild]

Everyone who talks to me is actively slumming.

Not really. We don't ask for socioeconomic status when signing up.

[stray]

Aww. Thanks. 

[edit] This thread has inspired a new avatar.

[Lantyssa]

Damn, I missed the pics. 

[lamaros]

It's great to be proud of the woman you're seeing, but if that's her... do her a favor and take those pics off the internet. 

 

That bad eh. 

[cmlancas]

Heh. Books are neat. I have issues with people who can't see the merits of children's literature though.

 

This thread went into a wacky derail.


WACKY I SAY!

[Nebu]

That bad eh. 

She was very attractive.  I just think throwing a woman's picture on the internet is the fastest way to end a relationship.  Particularly when it's a gaming site.

[stray]

I don't have a relationship with her really. Advice very much taken though. You're right. I just thought it was the time to throw down the gauntlet for a sec. Heh. Since.. umm.. the car wasn't a good enough virtue apparently (still not sure how that one backfired).

Anyways, if I had a point, it's that "crucial self-branding" is very overrated. 

[edit] seriously though, as far as "dating" sites go, I think few people read that info. Like what books you read. At least when starting out, you should just try to find someone to have fun with, and that you're attracted to. If you were gonna submit your pic to one of these places, make sure that's what the pic says about you too. Someone wants to diss you for what you read? Fuck em.

[Lantyssa]

They don't believe anyone is hot if you tell 'em.  Said the same thing 'bout my dentist until I showed that magazine cover.  That showed 'em real good!

(Good thing the spell checker isn't a grammar checker.  My local dialect would get me nailed.)

[Engels]

So , Stray, who the hell is this tart anyway? Someone you ran into in a parking lot?

[stray]

Musician friends (she happens to be a pianist and choir singer too). Very church/"CCM" oriented though (not necessarily a problem for me...but for them). I might come off as some sort of bible basher myself around here, but believe me, there are people out there who'd see even Paelos as a bad boy (what with him being Irish and all  ).

[edit] The last chick I met in parking lot was about call an ambulance. She thought I was dead.

[lamaros]

That bad eh. 

She was very attractive.  I just think throwing a woman's picture on the internet is the fastest way to end a relationship.  Particularly when it's a gaming site.

I WAS JUST TRYING TO RILE UP STRAY EH, GO ALONG WITH IT NEXT TIME!

I just thought it was the time to throw down the gauntlet for a sec. Heh. Since.. umm.. the car wasn't a good enough virtue apparently (still not sure how that one backfired).

Anyways, if I had a point, it's that "crucial self-branding" is very overrated. 

And yet here you were trying to brand some girl you might have a chance at a relationship with, for us? (by pointing out the entirely more superficial-than-books attributes of her car and looks? no less)

 

[Calantus]

I don't think it has anything to do with relative net worth. Anyone that spends that amount of money on a depreciating asset just plain isn't very smart and the conspicuous consumption aspect of it tells you a lot about someone's personality.

Um. No. There comes a point where you have more money than you need and you can either make investments you don't need or buy shit you don't need. A car is not an "asset" unless you're a collector, a seller, or a tax agent. It's an expense, and how much an expense costs is only relevant as a reflection on a person if it would stop them from buying things they need.

[Paelos]

Musician friends (she happens to be a pianist and choir singer too). Very church/"CCM" oriented though (not necessarily a problem for me...but for them). I might come off as some sort of bible basher myself around here, but believe me, there are people out there who'd see even Paelos as a bad boy (what with him being Irish and all  ).

My heroic intake of cocktails at parties does raise a few eyebrows, yes. I just try not to show up to church on Sundays smelling like a brewery and things usually go fine.

[Velorath]

Um. No. There comes a point where you have more money than you need and you can either make investments you don't need or buy shit you don't need.

You don't seriously think that those are the only two options do you?

[Abagadro]

Anything you own is an asset. An asset can be an expense if it depreciates or an investment if it appreciates. It is still an asset.  People are entitled to spend any amount of money on any foolish thing they want, but spending that kind of money on something that is to get you from point A to point B is rather silly.  Warren Buffet is the richest guy in the world and drives a 40k Caddy.

[Roac]

I don't think it has anything to do with relative net worth. Anyone that spends that amount of money on a depreciating asset just plain isn't very smart and the conspicuous consumption aspect of it tells you a lot about someone's personality.

Um. No. There comes a point where you have more money than you need and you can either make investments you don't need or buy shit you don't need. A car is not an "asset" unless you're a collector, a seller, or a tax agent. It's an expense, and how much an expense costs is only relevant as a reflection on a person if it would stop them from buying things they need.

Ab didn't need someone to illustrate his point perfectly, but there you go.

[stray]

Cars aren't necessarily/merely meant to get one from "point A to point B". Not to me at least.

Also, Ab, weren't you the guy who'd touch upon certain gambling losses here? I remember thinking "it must be nice". What gives?

[Paelos]

Anything you own is an asset. An asset can be an expense if it depreciates or an investment if it appreciates. It is still an asset.  People are entitled to spend any amount of money on any foolish thing they want, but spending that kind of money on something that is to get you from point A to point B is rather silly.  Warren Buffet is the richest guy in the world and drives a 40k Caddy.

Yes, in the accounting sense you are spot on. However, as an accountant I can tell you that Buffet is probably a mad genius. He's one of those people who's so brilliant that they made it to the top of the pyramid just to prove he could, and then he just sits on this gigantic pile of accumulating wealth waiting to die so he can disperse it to charities. He treats EVERYTHING by the investment strategy, including his family, his charities, and everything else. I think he's a very cool guy, and I agree with his disdain for companies that totally piss money away on ridiculous luxury, but he's also an extremist in his viewpoint.

[Llava]

Never used a dating site myself, but if I'm looking at someone's profile on some sort of networking or blog site I'm far, far more likely to contact them if I see I have something in common with them- including books.  If I see someone with Christopher Hitchens in their favorite authors, I'll probably talk to them.

Yeah. You heard me. Christopher Hitchens. Like him or not, the man can fucking write.

[Calantus]

I don't think it has anything to do with relative net worth. Anyone that spends that amount of money on a depreciating asset just plain isn't very smart and the conspicuous consumption aspect of it tells you a lot about someone's personality.

Um. No. There comes a point where you have more money than you need and you can either make investments you don't need or buy shit you don't need. A car is not an "asset" unless you're a collector, a seller, or a tax agent. It's an expense, and how much an expense costs is only relevant as a reflection on a person if it would stop them from buying things they need.

Ab didn't need someone to illustrate his point perfectly, but there you go.

Sorry, I forgot for a minute there that life is a spreadsheet. Boy I'm glad you pulled me up on it. I was going to buy some lunch tomorrow but now I'm reminded how badly food depreciates when you eat it and don't think I will.

[Calantus]

Um. No. There comes a point where you have more money than you need and you can either make investments you don't need or buy shit you don't need.

You don't seriously think that those are the only two options do you?

Sigh. Gifts and charitable donations can fall under the heading of "buy shit you don't need". It's not worded perfectly for it but then I wasn't writing a thesis on the options available to a person who has more money than they need. I was making the illustration that something depreciating is irrelevant if you don't need the money for essentials or need further investents. There's just a point when saving money or making a solid financial purchase with that leftover money becomes pointless.

[Lantyssa]

He considers spending that much money on a car a waste, regardless of how wealthy she is.  He finds that unattractive in a person and you don't.  We can probably leave it at that.  Different mores and all.

[Margalis]

I find conspicuous consumption annoying. Not because it's a waste but because I'm not a terribly materialistic person and someone who spends 100k on a car has a very different attitude about life than I.

[murdoc]

I'd spend ridiculous amounts of money on cars, booze and women if I had ridiculous amounts of money to spend.

[Nebu]

I'd spend ridiculous amounts of money on cars, booze and women if I had ridiculous amounts of money to spend.

Just become an elected government official. Then you can spend other people's money.

[Mrbloodworth]

I'd spend ridiculous amounts of money on cars, booze and women if I had ridiculous amounts of money to spend.

QFT.

[Paelos]

I'd spend ridiculous amounts of money on cars, booze and women if I had ridiculous amounts of money to spend.

QFT.

Or a televangelist.

[Morat20]

Meandering back to the topic:

It's the usual press fluff-piece -- take a real trend or concept, and then magnify it to stupidity by finding the biggest idiots involved.

I read a lot. I couldn't date someone that didn't read a lot. We wouldn't have a lot to talk about, and if nothing else she'd get pissed I was reading instead of exchanging small talk or watching Paradise Hotel or something.

I don't really care if she reads what I read -- although it's nice, but I could see liking certain books or genres to be something of a signifier. I wouldn't dump someone because they loved Ayn Rand or her bastard-love child Terry Goodkind (Okay, I have several of his books. They got so bad they became awesome) -- but if they heavily identified with the underlying philosophys of Rand, or thought Goodkind was an amazing writer especially in Naked Empire -- well, I could see problems ahead.

I'm not an Objectivist, and my entire relationship with them is to mock them heavily. I could forgo that, in exchange for awesome sex, but sooner or later the sex would run stale and the urge to mock would be relentless. And then I'd get dumped. :)

[Pennilenko]

I'd spend ridiculous amounts of money on cars, booze and women if I had ridiculous amounts of money to spend.

What this guy said.

[Abagadro]

Also, Ab, weren't you the guy who'd touch upon certain gambling losses here?

Not sure what you are referring to here.  I generally play poker in which I am not a long-term loser (for the last 4 years I'm up about 8-10 grand by a BOE calculation, a yes I paid taxes on all of it).  I also play video poker to keep my comp level up at the casino I play at so I can get free room/food. I play a full-pay machine using mid-optimal strategy which gives me a return of about 99.52% which with comps gets me to over a 100% return long-term.  I occasionally play 2 dollar craps when I go with my friend but never more than 100 bucks at a time and it is an entertainment expense. 

I never said that you can't like nice things or spend money on superfluous stuff. I spend way too much money on good booze with a particular weakness for high-end Cabernet. We all have our vices. For me personally cars are the most ridiculous money sink conceivable and I operate on that basis. I could go out and buy a Mercedes right now with cash if I wanted to (not an SL but a nice E class) and I do think they are nice cars, but I'll drive my 2001 Altima until it falls apart instead. It's the single most expensive thing people buy that will be worth next to nothing in 10 years. Just doesn't make sense to me to spend some outrageous sum for something that should mostly be basic transportation.

I was sorta being flippant with my first response anyways so I apologize if I insulted you or your friend.

[stray]

Nah, don't worry about it. I just thought she had some justification in it. Somebody's gotta buy these cars, y'know! That'd be the real waste if they didn't. ;)

[Yegolev]

I did not quite make it to the

part you quoted

... did I miss boobies?

[Tale]

A materialist who lists the Bible as a favourite book has not paid the book much attention.

[stray]

Umm. Not really. The Bible just says not to be a greedy, a glutton, or a sloth. It doesn't outright condemn riches or valuing the material world... Just warns of the temptations of it. The Torah always taught that one should at least give 10% of their earnings. Not the whole she-bang...If you wanted to though, great. Heck, it doesn't even really condemn the "frivolous" use of expensive things.. There was that one bit in the gospels, where some woman came up to Jesus and poured a really expensive perfume on his feet. His disciples jumped in and bitched at her, saying "You should have sold that and used the money for the poor!" To which Jesus replied "Dude, she did a nice gesture here. Leave her alone. You'll always have the poor to help another day."

[Tale]

I think you're wrong, but I'm not going to have a religious argument.